122 TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



gum anime is obtained (Hymencea Courbaril, L.).* 

 They are here called Jatoba or Jatai. Between 

 the bark and the wood of this tree, which in its 

 growth resembles the elm, there are in proportion 

 but a few interstices filled with fluid gum ; the far 

 greater part of it is found under the principal roots, 

 when they are bared of the earth, which, in ge- 

 neral, cannot be done, without telling the tree. 

 Under old trees, pale yellow round cakes, weighing 

 from six to eight pounds, are sometimes found, which 

 have been formed by the gradual filtering of the 

 liquid gum. Tlie purity and colour of this sub- 

 stance, principally depends on the nature of the 

 earth in which these cakes are foimd, for the 

 brown mould or moor soil imparts to them certain 

 ingredients, which are not foimd in the dry, clayey, 

 or sandy soil. The finest part of the gum, how- 

 ever, is that which exuding from the bark chiefly 

 in the dry season, in the months of September and 

 October, is collected by the inhabitants in the form 

 of drops, and melted over the fire. The formation 

 of those large masses of gum between the roots, 

 seems to throw some light on the origin of amber, 

 as it is very conceivable that this vegetable sub- 

 stance may have been partly accumulated in the 

 ground, in a similar manner, under the trees which 

 produced it, before it was received and rounded 



* We met with several kinds of hymenaea, all of which pro- 

 duce gum. 



